Thursday, March 25, 2004

All Typepad Sites Banned in China (Story Filed For Independent Media)

If you want those in China to be able to access this page you will have to put the link through a proxy. The URL is: http://www.unipeak.com/getpage.php?_u_r_l_=aHR0cDovL2dsdXR0ZXIudHlwZXBhZC5jb20vZ2x1dHRlci8yMDA0LzAzL2FsbF90eXBlcGFkX3NpdC5odG1s

March 26th. Story Filed For Independent Media as well as On Glutter. I turn my site black as ask others to report the inccident. Over a hundred sites around the world did, many turned their borders black (To see partial list scroll down)

Typepad Banned in China

All typepad.com and blogs.com hosted sites are banned in China starting this morning, a week after China has agreed to amend its constitution to respect human rights. This is another move by the Central government to curb free speech and freedom of information on the Internet. This is the first time in two years that China has blocked access to foreign servers that host personal sites. (Correction SECOND time in two years as the last event was in Jan 2003)

Last week saw two hosting services within China, blogbus and blogscn banned. There has been differing reports whether the service has regained or not.After shutting down forums and message boards within the country, it’s now using blocking software to stop information from leaking into the county via personal sites, an increasingly vibrant China internet community, and a place where users are slipping in banned information. Some sites in the blogging community are turning black in protest of this event while others are reporting the incident. So far sites in Hong Kong, US, Canada, and the Netherlands has done so.

81% of all cyber dissidents in the world are held in China: 59 out of 72 logged by Reporters Without Borders compared to 38 out of 48 in November 2003.

A Miss Elayne Riggs (no need to link back) has posted that Typepads is NOT banned in China but blogus, and blogscn has been shut down (that is correct). I would like to "acertain" that her comment is incorrect as I have been contacted by those in China who are currently accessing this site as well as ALL typepad sites though proxies, such as www.unipeak.com, and http://anonymouse.ws along with those who are in China who cannot see their own sites (but can still update) as they are on this service. In fact, customer service in Typepad replied to an email I sent that "It appears it's blocked for at least some users in China." (Although we haven't heard of anyone who can access it, I would agree that the company needs to err on the side of caution). Update: Guardian Unlimited: We Blog Section has just logged this event.

Miss. Riggs has said that "Misinformation is as dangerous as censorship." I would agree with her comment whole heartedly.

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Tell the World

Here is a list of sites that have TURNED BLACK and/or reported the inccidents

(Please keep me updated to anymore sites as it seems to be growing outside of this neighbourhood. I don't really know what to say. In a bit of shock actually, as it was just a little idea and it kept growing.... I am touched as I think many others are.)

This is the power of the Internet. Let it to remain free and open for all.

(March 27th) And I do want to add that in retrospect I should have done this when blogus and blogcn (mainland blog sites) were shut down last week, but I wasn't even aware until the day I was blocked. This is not just for typepad, but for all the mainland bloggers as well. Shame on me for not putting two and two together. But sometimes we click on to what's happenning because it happens to us. Which is why, maybe it's suprizing to me that so many people put in their say, when it's not them. We should care more. I should care more.

(I am also leaving out the China based sites that have reported this as I don't have permission to link to theirs, everyone here trackbacked, sent an email or is linked to this site. And another small note. I am a Chinese Citizen based in Hong Kong, and I am female, it doesn't matter, but my name causes confusion.)

Hailey and to all other chinese users: The best solution I've seen comes from Brainysmurf. Use www.unipeak.com , type in the site that's blocked and Voila! It makes me feel better that there are at least some easy ways to get around this - a little bit better anyways.

btw, yan, I'm glad you made this list - save me a hell of a lot of time :)

Oh please, it\'s just a fucking website not the abolishment of human rights. Get off your freaking high horse Nutter. Are you disappointed because the few people in China are no longer able to use Typepad, or do you honestly believe people in China are interested (or capable) of reading the crap you blurt out on this site? Or are you just doing this for hits and attention. Because we all know how much you like hits and attention. You\'re a whore for them and that\'s a fact.

Maybe the Chinese government is doing us a favour by restricting our access to crap!

The following needs minor correction:
\\\"This is the first time in two years that China has blocked access to foreign servers that host personal sites.\\\"

This is actually the second time in two years that China has blocked access to foreign servers that host personal sites. The first time was in January 2003 when authorities blocked Blogspot hosted sites.

wsy, this girl here is doing her part in defending human rights, and all you can do is making ignorant and attacking remark. Just why the hell are you wasting your time reading this blog and leaving unfriendly comment if you don't like what you see? This is Yan's blog afterall. If you don't like what she writes, just fuck off!

I reckon the best policy is to ignore comments like that. He/She might have an opinion but using insulting profanity just means that the person using them can't bring their point across strongly enough with sound logical arguments.

I didn't expect Typepad sites to get banned. Some people pay money to use these sites simply because China bans some other free blogging services such as Blogger.
Sadly, it's only a false sense of assurance to many. Paying doesn't mean that they're free from China's censorship.
What happen to those people who paid good money to use Typepad? They're going to be so pissed. Hopefully China can one day free their people from the internet censorship. It's ridiculous.

hey yan, i posted about it on my page--sorry i took so long! but i see it's been posted all over the place now. i went off on a completely different tangent, though, so don't get confused. it's been a long week. :P